Matthew Dickerson: Of dams, mussels and native fish

I’ve been thinking about dams lately. I especially been thinking about their removal.

Mount Abraham Union High School sophomores and twins Hailey and Isayah Isham on Saturday became the 2024 Vermont High School Bass Fishing Champions. They became the seventh titlists in one of the newest official Vermont Principals’ Association sports.

Sugar Hill Reservoir in Goshen — more commonly referred to by the name of the structure that created it, Goshen Dam — has always been one of my favorite Vermont waters to paddle a canoe and cast a fly, especially in autumn.

It was my garden and yard that kept me off the local trout streams the past few weeks, along with several trees that came down on our property during Hurricane Debbie.

With the beginning of summer and anglers fishing from shore, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department reminds people that open fires and swimming are prohibited at all Vermont state fishing access areas.

The first alligator I saw in the wild was somewhat anticlimactic.

Vermont’s annual, statewide Summer Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 8 this year, and it will be highlighted by a free family fishing festival in Grand Isle as well as opening day of the state’s regular bass fishing season.

It was only my second cast of the day: a little weighted nymph imitating a mayfly larva that I drifted along the bottom of a thigh-deep hole.

Despite lingering snow cover in some areas of the state, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says anglers can still have fun and be successful early in the season if they keep a few strategies in mind.

For background, hunting and fishing are the most important things in my life outside of my family.

My name is Raymond Bapp and I am an adult male with intellectual disabilities. My favorite thing to do during my free time is go fishing.

Because there is quite a bit of misinformation circulating about this bill, I am urging you to look at the bill online so you can read for yourself what it does, and does not, do. 

A recent letter to the Addison Independent included a great deal of misinformation about newly proposed legislation, S.258.

Vermont’s state-wide Free Ice Fishing Day is Saturday, Jan. 27.

Vermont 2024 hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses, as well as the 2024 lawbooks for these activities, are now available on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s website and wherever licenses are sold.